Grid computing in general is a type of parallel computing that relies on computer resources connected to a network (private, public or the internet) by a network interface. So it combines the resources of many computers in a network to a single problem at the same time - usually to a scientific or technical problem that requires a great number of computer processing cycles or access to large amounts of data.
Before grid computing there was massive multiprocessor supercomputer processing huge and complex computation. However supercomputers are much costly for both hardware and software. The main advantage, in case of hardware, of distributed computing is that each node can be purchased as commodity hardware, which, when combined, can produce a similar computing resource as supercomputer, but at a lower cost.
In case of software also some differences in programming and deployment. It can be costly and difficult to write programs that can run in the environment of a supercomputer, which may have a custom operating system, or require the program to address concurrency issues. If a problem can be adequately parallelized, a “thin” layer of “grid” infrastructure can allow conventional, standalone programs, given a different part of the same problem, to run on multiple machines. This makes it possible to write and debug on a single conventional machine, and eliminates complications due to multiple instances of the same program running in the same shared memory and storage space at the same time.The primary performance disadvantage is that the various processors and local storage areas do not have high-speed connections. This arrangement is thus well-suited to applications in which multiple parallel computations can take place independently, without the need to communicate intermediate results between processors.
A well-known example of grid computing in the public domain is the ongoing SETI(Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) @Home project in which thousands of people are sharing the unused processor cycles of their PCs in the vast search for signs of "rational" signals from outer space. According to John Patrick, IBM's vice-president for Internet strategies, "the next big thing will be grid computing."
Hence grids computing offer a way to solve grand and complex problems such as financial modeling, earthquake simulation, protein folding and climate modeling, animation projects. Grids offer a way of using the information technology resources optimally inside an organization. They also provide a means for offering information technology as a utility for commercial and noncommercial clients, with those clients paying only for what they use-cloud computing.
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